Tobacco-stem-crushing machine.



No. 761,101. PATENTED MAY 31, 1904.

B. QUESTBR.

TOBAOGO STEM GRUSHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION IILED F3118, 1902.

No. 761,101. PATBNTED MAY 31, 1904.

E. QUESTER.

TOBACCO STEM GRUSHING MAGHINE. nruoumn rmm mm. 1a, 1902.

N0 MODEL. 8 8HEBTSBHBET 3.

ZUET Q i wvehzr 1 ggf UNITED STATES Patented May 31, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

EDUARD QUESTER, OF COLOGNE-LINDENTHAL, GERMANY.

TOBACQO-STEIVl-CRUSHING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part-of Letters Patent N0. 761,101, dated May 31, 1904.

' a licant. filed February 18,1902. Serial No. 94,655. (no model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known thatI, EDUARD QUns'rnR, a subject of the King of Prussia, Emperor of Germany, residing in Cologne-Lindenthal, in the Kingdom of Prussia and Empire of Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tobacco-Stem-Crushing Machines, of which the following. is a specification.

The rollersin the machine forming the subject of the present inven tionare not separated in pairs, but in accordance with the number of rollers for which the machine is arranged c'. a, whether three or more than three rollers are employed they are journaled at the angle of intersecting planes and come into engagement in the order in which they are mounted, so that each crushing-roller, with the exception of the two outer, contains two points at which the pressing or flattening takes place.

Thus when employing only three rollers two crushing-points are attained, and in the case of amachine for threefold crushing four rollers suflice.

It may be remarked that-it would be possible to secure this economy in rollers if these rollers were arranged ina straight line below or adjacent to each other; but in such case a special device is. absolutely necessary for leading the tobacco-stalks to the point of contact of the rollers.

In the present arrangement of rollers the various points of contact of the rollers are brought in such position that below each point of contact a slanted portion of surface is provided upon one portion of the crushing-roller, by means of which the material is led to the next point of contact, so that the stalks coming from a higher point of contact are carried to the next lower.

1n the accompanying drawings the improved machine is shown in two forms of construction, in which 7 Figure 1 shows in Vertical section a machine withonly three crushing-rollers arranged at an angle to each other. Fig. 2 represents, also in vertical section, a machine with five crushing-rollers, wherein the rollers are journaled in a similar manner, while Fig. 3 shows a three-roller machine, in front view and part section, in a further modified form of construction.

Referring to the drawings, the machine represented in Fig. 1 is arranged for a twofold 3 crushing process, being provided with three.

rollers a b 0, which consecutively come in contact with eachother.

located in two intersecting planes, the third roll being in a straight line directly under the first. These inclined planes (indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1) form approximately an angle of forty-five degrees to the horizontal plane 00 a, this angle having proved to be the most practical. Rather should this angle be somewhat smaller than larger than this.

The feeding or introduction of the cut or uncut stalks to the point of contact of the first two rollers canbe effected in any known manner'as, for instance, by the employment of an endless apron f or by a vibrated hopper g. As soon as the stalks have passed the two rollers a and b they are pared off by the two scrapers [71. and fall upon the roller 0 and by the motion of the latter are carried between it and the second roller 6, when the stalks are smoothed or flattened the second time. A guard-plate is may be provided to prevent the stalks brushed off by the scrapers h and z' from falling out of the machine; but the employment of such guards is a matter of choice, they being held not to be absolutely essential, as the scrapers it will cause all matter adhering to the upper of any two coacting rolls to fall upon the lower roll of the next lower coacting pair, by which it will be carried forward for another crushing.

In cases where it is desired to arrange a fourth roller upon the machine the same should have in relation to the third roller 0 the posiconstructed for a larger number than threefold crushings or fiattenings of the material under treatment.

In machines having four rollers or more the centers of the axes of the entire series of rollers will be located at the angles of intersecting inclined planes and the rollers occupying the uneven and even numbered positions,

movement may also be imparted to the rollers simultaneously with the rotary motion here-" inbefore described. Fig. 3 shows a machine with three rollers, the middle roller 6 of which is movable in a longitudinal direction. To effect'this longitudinal movement, a, guidedisk m, having an annular groove, is keyed upon the shaft Z of the roller Z), in which groove two studs of a double-arm lever a, bifurcated at its upper end, engage. The lower end of thelever n engages in a peripheral groove of a disk p, keyed on a special shaft 0, the said disk 9 imparting to the lever n a lateral oscillating movement upon the rotation of the said shaft 0, this movement being conveyed totheroller 6 during its rotation, the

rotation of shaft 0 being effected by a belt (not shown) connecting its pulley with one on the shaft Z. By'imparting this longitudinal movement to' one or more rollers during the rotation the fibers of'the tobacco-stalks are stretched or drawn out to a considerable degree, whereby the obtained product becomes more flexible and softer, which favorably influences the drawing properties of cigars made from these leaves. It is further clear that by being subjected to a subsequent crushing or flattening through a single pair of rotating rollers the regularity of the leaf can be still more perfectly attained.

The longitudinal sliding movement may be obtained-by other means than those hereinbefore described.

WhatI claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. In a machine forcrushing tobacco-stems, the combination with a series of three parallel contacting rolls arranged one above the other with the axis of the intermediate roll outside of the vertical plane of the axes of theother rolla'nd atthe angle of intersecting planes in which said axes are located-, of means for longitudinal-l y reciprocatingthe intermediate roll during its rotation, the upper and lower rolls being held against longitudinal move roll having its axis at one side of said plane,

of a disk on the shaft of the intermediate roll having an annular groove in its periphery, a

shaft parallel with andbeyond the outer roll,

a disk thereon having a cam-groove inits periphery, a lever pivoted intermediate its ends on an axis at right angles to the shafts, and

studs onthe opposite ends of said lever engaging in the groove of the disk and the cam- 

